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Beryl: The Making of a Disability Activist
By Dustin Galer. 2023
The story of a mid-century working-class housewife whose extraordinary physical transformation empowered her to become a dynamic social activist who…
fueled a movement to create a more inclusive future for people with disabilities.Tiff: A life of timothy findley
By Sherrill Grace. 2021
Timothy Findley (1930-2002) was one of Canada's foremost writers—an award-winning novelist, playwright, and short-story writer who began his career as…
an actor in London, England. Findley was instrumental in the development of Canadian literature and publishing in the 1970s and 80s . During those years, he became a vocal advocate for human rights and the anti-war movement. His writing and interviews reveal a man concerned with the state of the world, a man who believed in the importance of not giving in to despair, despite his constant struggle with depression. Findley believed in the power of imagination and creativity to save us. Tiff: A Life of Timothy Findley is the first full biography of this eminent Canadian writer. Sherrill Grace provides insight into Findley's life and struggles through an exploration of his private journals and his relationships with family, his beloved partner, Bill Whitehead, and his close friends, including Alec Guinness, William Hutt, and Margaret Laurence. Based on many interviews and exhaustive archival research, this biography explores Findley's life and work, the issues that consumed him, and his often profound depression over the evils of the twentieth-century. Shining through his darkness are Findley's generous humour, his unforgettable characters, and his hope for the future. These qualities inform canonic works like The Wars (1977), Famous Last Words (1981), Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984), and The Piano Man's Daughter (1995)On browsing
By Jason Guriel. 2023
A defense of the dying art of losing an afternoon—and gaining new appreciation—amidst the bins and shelves of bricks-and-mortar shops.…
Written during the pandemic, when the world was marooned at home and consigned to scrolling screens, On Browsing 's essays chronicle what we've lost through online shopping, streaming, and the relentless digitization of culture. The latest in the Field Notes series, On Browsing is an elegy for physical media, a polemic in defense of perusing the world in person, and a love letter to the dying practice of scanning bookshelves, combing CD bins, and losing yourself in the stacksDispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging
By Jessica J. Lee. 2024
INSTANT TORONTO STAR BESTSELLERThe prize-winning and bestselling author of Two Trees Make a Forest turns to the lives of plants…
entangled in our human world to explore belonging, displacement, identity, and the truths of our shared futureA seed slips beyond a garden wall. A tree is planted on a precarious border. A shrub is stolen from its culture and its land. What happens when these plants leave their original homes and put down roots elsewhere?The themes in these fourteen essays become invigorating and intimate in Lee’s hands, centering on the lives of plants like seaweed, tangelos, and soy, and their entanglement with our human worlds. Lee explores the rich backstory of cherry trees in Berlin; a tea plant that grows in the Himalayan foothills just southwest of China; the world of algae and wakame, and the journeys they’ve made to reach us.Each of the plants considered in this collection are somehow perceived as being "out of place"—weeds, samples collected through imperial science, crops introduced and transformed by our hand. Lee looks at these plant species in their own context, even when we find them outside of it.Dispersals draws a gorgeous, sprawling map of the diaspora of flora. Combining memoir, history, and scientific research in poetic prose, Jessica J. Lee meditates on the question of how both plants and people come to belong, why both cross borders, and how our futures are more entwined than we might imagine.Out of Darkness: Rumana Monzur's Journey through Betrayal, Tyranny and Abuse
By Denise Chong. 2024
From the bestselling author of The Concubine’s Children and The Girl in the Picture, a gripping story of a domestic…
assault that shocked the world, of the exercise of power and political influence, and of the Bangladeshi woman whose irrepressible spirit found light in sudden darkness.From the outside, Rumana seemed an unlikely victim of domestic abuse: married to a man of her own choosing and progressing in her career as a professor of international relations at Dhaka University. But in 2011, on return from graduate studies at the University of British Columbia, her husband attacked and blinded her in front of their young daughter. As Rumana's horrifying story garnered international headlines, and connections brought her to Vancouver in an attempt—ultimately futile—to restore her sight, her plight underscored the fact that there are no typical victims of intimate-partner violence. Denise Chong goes behind the headlines to reveal the devolution of a love story into a tale of tyranny behind closed doors, and the pursuit of justice that proved all the more elusive during the rise of social media. Out of Darkness tells a globe-spanning narrative of loyalty, perseverance and a woman’s determination to face the future and rebuild a life with meaning.Knife: Meditations after an Attempted Murder
By Salman Rushdie. 2024
From internationally renowned writer and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie, a searing, deeply personal account of enduring—and surviving—an attempt on…
his life thirty years after the fatwa that was ordered against him.Speaking out for the first time, and in unforgettable detail, about the traumatic events of August 12, 2022, Salman Rushdie answers violence with art, and reminds us of the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable. Knife is a gripping, intimate, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art—and finding the strength to stand up again.Owner of a lonely heart: A memoir
By Beth Nguyen. 2023
Named a Best Memoir of 2023 by Oprah Daily Selected by Time , NPR, and BookPage as a Best Book…
of 2023 "This book...is what memoir writing in the hands of a caring, curious wunderkind can be." —Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy From the award-winning author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner, a powerful memoir of a mother-daughter relationship fractured by war and resettlement. At the end of the Vietnam War, when Beth Nguyen was eight months old, she and her family fled Saigon for America. Only Beth's mother stayed—or was left—behind, and they did not meet again until Beth was nineteen. Over the course of her adult life, she and her mother have spent less than twenty-four hours together. Owner of a Lonely Heart is "a portrait of things left unsaid" ( The New York Times ), a memoir about parenthood, absence, and the condition of being a refugee: the story of Beth's relationship with her mother. Framed by a handful of visits over the course of many years—sometimes brief, sometimes interrupted, some alone with her mother and others with the company of her sister—Beth tells an "unforgettable" ( People ) coming-of-age story that spans her childhood in the Midwest, her first meeting with her mother, and her own experience of parenthoodLa machine à coudre: de l'Afghanistan en guerre aux défilés de haute couture
By Sami Nouri. 2022
À l'âge de 5 ans, Sami Nouri fuit avec sa famille le régime des talibans, trouvant refuge en Iran puis…
en Europe dans des conditions particulièrement éprouvantes. À 14 ans, il arrive seul en France, ne parle pas la langue, est déplacé de foyer en foyer. Un jour, son talent de couturier est découvert. À 27 ans, il est styliste et a fondé sa propre maison de haute coutureFederer, un mythe contemporain
By Charles Haroche. 2021
Revenant sur la vie et la carrière de Roger Federer, l'auteur explique comment et pourquoi le tennisman est devenu un…
véritable mythe, convoquant au passage des références mythologiques, cinématographiques, religieuses, philosophiques, littéraires, artistiques ou psychologiquesA plate of hope: The inspiring story of chef jos©♭ andr©♭s and world central kitchen
By Erin Frankel. 2024
Jos©♭ Andr©♭s's love of cooking began as a young boy in Spain as he gathered the wood to make the…
fire that would cook the paella just right. Jos©♭ loved everything about it: the sizzling olive oil, the mounds of chopped vegetables, and the smell of saffron. When he left home, he realized he wanted to tell stories with food. And tell them he did, creating magic with the seeds of ripe tomatoes and pomegranates and cheese. His dreams grew until they were as big as the stars in the sky. He thought No one should ever go hungry. I want to help feed the world—and World Central Kitchen was born. From the earthquake in Haiti to the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic, Jos©♭ and his team at World Central Kitchen have been at the frontlines, serving more than 200 million meals and counting, and bringing comfort and hope in the darkest times. With its lyrical text, this biography about a world-renowned humanitarian and chef is sure to inspire a new generation of community helpersL'univers Maranda: même le diable a droit à un avocat
By Christian Tétreault. 2023
Un criminaliste flamboyant, les pires bandits de l'histoire judiciaire du Québec: Bienvenue dans l'univers Maranda. Avocat de génie qui tétanisait…
la partie adverse et imposait le respect aux juges les plus coriaces, ardent défenseur des droits et libertés fasciné par le parcours des hors-la-loi qu'il représentait, homme respectable que l'amour a traîné sur le banc des accusés: Léo-René Maranda (1932-2012) était la complexité faite homme. Découvrir l'univers Maranda, c'est plonger dans une époque révolue où les figures mythiques de Brian Erb, Richard Foley, Monica-la-mitraille, Gérard Fontaine, Donald Côté et Alain Charron couraient encore les rues, protégées par la verve de leur éblouissant défenseurLà d'où jaillit la lumière
By Jill Biden. 2022
Mémoires de l'épouse de Joe Biden, qu'elle épouse en secondes noces en 1977. Enseignante d'anglais et d'histoire au lycée, elle…
conserve son métier lors de la vice-présidence de son mari sous les mandats d'Obama puis lorsque Biden accède lui-même au bureau ovale. Elle retrace son parcours, ses liens avec son mari et les enfants issus de son premier mariage, dont Beau, décédé en 2015Jean-Pierre Ménard: le missionnaire du droit
By Ariane Lacoursière. 2023
"J'ai défendu des milliers de gens dans ma carrière. Dont certains avaient des revenus modestes. Dans ce contexte-là, j'ai rencontré…
beaucoup de gens qui ont été pour moi des gens extraordinaires et significatifs en termes de personne. Chacune de ces personnes et de ces groupes a été pour moi tout au long de mon parcours professionnel une véritable inspiration qui m'a soutenue dans les moments difficiles lorsque j'affrontais des adversaires plus redoutables que les autres. Sans eux pour m'inspirer et me soutenir, je ne pense pas que j'aurais eu autant de satisfaction à pratiquer mon métier.'' Discours de Jean-Pierre Ménard lors de la remise de la Médaille du Barreau, en avril 2022Kid olympians: Summer: true tales of childhood from champions and game changers (Kid Legends #9)
By Robin Stevenson. 2024
Athletes throughout history have dreamed of competing in the Olympics—and some were kids themselves when those dreams and plans began!…
In Kid Olympians: Summer, discover the childhood stories of legends such as -Usain Bolt, who used to skip practices to go to the arcade and play video games. -Serena Williams, who sometimes hit her tennis ball over the fence on purpose! -Tatyana McFadden, who had to fight to be allowed on her school's track team Featuring kid-friendly text, this book will inspire you to dream bigger, faster, and higher than ever before! The diverse and inspiring group also includes Dick Fosbury, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Gertrude Ederle, Nadia Comaneci, Ellie Simmonds, Tommie Smith, Wilma Rudolph, and Megan RapinoeBut you don't look arab: And other tales of unbelonging
By Hala Gorani. 2024
Emmy Award-winning international journalist Hala Gorani weaves stories from her time as a globe-trotting anchor and correspondent with her own…
lifelong search for identity as the daughter of Syrian immigrants. What is it like to have no clear identity in a world full of labels? How can people find a sense of belonging when they have never felt part of a "tribe?" And how does a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who's never lived in the Middle East honor her Arab Muslim ancestry and displaced family—a family forced to scatter when their home country was torn apart by war? Hala Gorani's path to self-discovery started the moment she could understand that she was "other" wherever she found herself to be. Born of Syrian parents in America and raised mainly in France, she didn't feel at home in Aleppo, Seattle, Paris, or London. She is a citizen of everywhere and nowhere. And like many journalists who've covered wars and conflicts, she felt most at home on the ground reporting and in front of the camera. As a journalist, Gorani has traveled to some of the most dangerous places in the world, covering the Arab Spring in Cairo and the Syrian civil war, reporting on suicide bombers in Beirut and the chemical attacks in Damascus, watching the growth of ISIS and the war in Iraq—sometimes escaping with her life by a hair. But through it all, she came to understand that finding herself meant not only looking inward, but tracing a long family history of uprooted ancestors. From the courts of Ottoman Empire sultans through the stories of the citizens from her home country and other places torn apart by unrest, But You Don't Look Arab combines Gorani's family history with rigorous reporting, explaining—and most importantly, humanizing—the constant upheavals in the Middle East over the last centuryBitter crop: The heartache and triumph of billie holiday's last year
By Paul Alexander. 2024
A revelatory look at the tumultuous life of a jazz legend and American cultural icon In the first biography of…
Billie Holiday in more than two decades, Paul Alexander—author of heralded lives of Sylvia Plath and J. D. Salinger—gives us an unconventional portrait of arguably America&’s most eminent jazz singer. He shrewdly focuses on the last year of her life—with relevant flashbacks to provide context—to evoke and examine the persistent magnificence of Holiday&’s artistry when it was supposed to have declined, in the wake of her drug abuse, relationships with violent men, and run-ins with the law. During her lifetime and after her death, Billie Holiday was often depicted as a down-on-her-luck junkie severely lacking in self-esteem. Relying on interviews with people who knew her, and new material unearthed in private collections and institutional archives, Bitter Crop —a reference to the last two words of Strange Fruit , her moving song about lynching—limns Holiday as a powerful, ambitious woman who overcame her flaws to triumph as a vital figure of American popular musicWhy we read: On bookworms, libraries, and just one more page before lights out
By Shannon Reed. 2024
A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a teacher, bibliophile, and Thurber Prize Semifinalist We read…
to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students. From the varied novels she cherishes (Gone Girl, Their Eyes Were Watching God) to the ones she didn't (Tess of the d'Urbervilles), Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the ways in which literature can transform us for the betterBlack History 365: An Inclusive Account Of American History (50 Stars)
By Walter Milton. 2020
Black History 365 is an educational entity whose purpose is to create cutting-edge resources that invite students, educators, and other…
readers to become critical thinkers, compassionate listeners, fact-based, respectful communicators and action-oriented solutionists.The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time; A Memoir
By Jane Bertch. 2024
The inspiring and delicious memoir of an American woman who had the gall to open a cooking school in Paris—a…
true story of triumphing over French naysayers and falling in love with a city along the way&“An engaging, multilayered story of a woman navigating innumerable cultural differences to build a life in Paris and create her dream: to establish a French cooking school.&”—David Lebovitz, author of My Paris KitchenWhen Jane Bertch was seventeen, her mother took her on a graduation trip to Paris. Thrilled to use her high school French, Jane found her halting attempts greeted with withering condescension by every waiter and shopkeeper she encountered. At the end of the trip, she vowed she would never return.Yet a decade later she found herself back in Paris, transferred there by the American bank she worked for. She became fluent in the language and excelled in her new position. But she had a different dream: to start a cooking school for foreigners like her, who wanted to take a few classes in French cuisine in a friendly setting, then bring their new skills to their kitchens back home. Predictably, Jane faced the skeptical French—how dare an American banker start a cooking school in Paris?—as well as real-estate nightmares, and a long struggle to find and attract clients.Thanks to Jane&’s perseverance, La Cuisine Paris opened in 2009. Now the school is thriving, welcoming international visitors to come in and knead dough, whisk bechamel, whip meringue, and learn the care, precision, patience, and beauty involved in French cooking. The French Ingredient is the story of a young female entrepreneur building a life in a city and culture she grew to love. As she established her school, Jane learned how to charm, how to project confidence, and how to give it right back to rude waiters. Having finally made peace with the city she swore to never revisit, she now offers a love letter to France, and a master class in Parisian cooking—and living.Black Women’s Stories of Everyday Racism: Narrative Analysis for Social Change
By Simone Drake, James Phelan, Robyn Warhol, Lisa Zunshine. 2024
Black Women’s Stories of Everyday Racism puts literary narrative theory to work on an urgent real-world problem. The book calls…
attention to African American women’s everyday experiences with systemic racism and demonstrates how four types of narrative theory can help generate strategies to explain and dismantle that racism. This volume presents fifteen stories told by eight midwestern African American women about their own experiences with casual and structural racism, followed by four detailed narratological analyses of the stories, each representing a different approach to narrative interpretation. The book makes a case for the need to hear the personal stories of these women and others like them as part of a larger effort to counter the systemic racism that prevails in the United States today.Readers will find that the women’s stories offer powerful evidence that African Americans experience racism as an inescapable part of their day-to-day lives—and sometimes as a force that radically changes their lives. The stories provide experience-based demonstrations of how pervasive systemic racism is and how it perpetuates power differentials that are baked into institutions such as schools, law enforcement, the health care system, and business. Containing countless signs of the stress and trauma that accompany and follow from experiences of racism, the stories reveal evidence of the women’s resilience as well as their unending need for it, as they continue to feel the negative effects of experiences that occurred many years ago. The four interpretive chapters note the complex skill involved in the women’s storytelling. The analyses also point to the overall value of telling these stories: how they are sometimes cathartic for the tellers; how they highlight the importance of listening—and the likelihood of misunderstanding—and how, if they and other stories like them were heard more often, they would be a force to counteract the structural racism they so graphically expose.The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.